Beavers’ defense delivers KO

The question following yesterday’s Nipmuc and Valley Tech football game was: What took so long?

The first meeting between the neighboring schools was worth the wait, as the host Beavers stopped a Nipmuc conversion try in the final minute to hold on for a 21-20 win.

“(Nipmuc’s) been after us to play them for a while,” Tech coach Rene Hanson said. “I’m glad we finally did — it was a great game.”

Whether the schools decide to make the affair a permanent addition to their schedules remains to be seen, Tech running back Bobby Pizzerelli was happy to put an end to some of the smack-talk.

“(Coming in) we felt like they didn’t respect us,” said Pizzerelli, who combined with Dan Allard to run for 196 yards and three touchdowns. “There’d been a lot of talking, so to come out and get the win is nice.”

The game was reminiscent of a heavyweight fight with both teams throwing and enduring an equal amount of punches. So it was no coincidence that after Nipmuc quarterback Willy Kempton hit Brandon Bishop for a 6-yard touchdown pass with 27.6 seconds left to pull his team within a point at 21-20, the public address system for Valley Tech (4-0) blared the theme song from the movie “Rocky” as the Warriors (2-2) called their final timeout to set up a two-point conversion try.

Fortunately for the Beavers, linemen Peter Trettel and Juan DeLeon were there to deliver the knockout punches, as the bruising duo stopped a rush by wrapping up Nipmuc’s Erich Slagel.

“They stuffed us,” Nipmuc coach Phil Schiloski said. “The credit goes to Valley Tech. They stepped up and made the play at the end.”

It was a second half full of big plays as Kempton (12 of 18 for 220 yards, 3 touchdowns) and the Warriors charged out of the break with a six-play scoring strike, capped by a 16-yard TD pass to Slagel. Bishop ran in the conversion and the Warriors led, 14-7.

The Beavers answered with a 16-play drive that saw senior quarterback Aron Sweder pull off a nifty reverse play, handing the ball off to Alex Krouner, who handed it to Allard (16 carries for 107 yards). Allard scampered 14 yards to the Nipmuc 4, where Pizzerelli delivered his second TD, a 2-yard run. He added the conversion to put the Beavers in front, 15-14.

After a Kempton to Bishop 32-yard connection landed the Warriors on the Tech 35, Beaver senior linebacker Andy Linsky intercepted Kempton’s next pass to end the third. The Beavers took over at their own 43, but Wes Anderson recovered a fumble for Nipmuc.